Hiring Overseas Developers Isn’t THAT Hard!
Anyone reading a guide on hiring offshore mobile app developers has probably never done it!
So we want this guide to actually be useful.
Below you will find no statistics from global market reports nobody cares about.
Instead, we’ve addressed readers at three stages in the offshore developer hiring journey, namely:
- Those unsure if offshoring your mobile app project is for you.
- Those who are ready and want to know how to hire offshore developers.
- Those who know how to hire offshore developers but aren’t sure where to hire from
And as Upstack Studio is a mobile app developer, a shameless sales pitch awaits you at the end!
Let’s begin.
Is Offshore Mobile App Development Right for You?
Not to downplay the enormity of this decision, but it’s an easy question to answer.
You hire offshore developers to solve problems that only offshore developers can solve, namely:
- Insufficient budget to hire local developers.
- A shortage of local developers with specific technical or domain knowledge.
- A shortage of local developers period.
- An overseas market that requires local presence.
Any one of these problems is a case for offshoring a mobile app development project.
A combination of them makes for a very strong case to hire offshore.
And by far the most common and challenging to diagnose is budget, so let’s address that.
Can You Afford Local Developers?
Developers aren’t like angry girlfriends who give the silent treatment, so you just have to ask!
Reach out to qualified local app development agencies and they’ll usually send you a form or email asking for key details about your mobile app idea, like:
- Its target audience
- Core features
- Competitors you know of
If it’s something they can take on, they’ll come back with a rough time and cost estimate.
Repeat this with several more local agencies and after five agencies get back to you, you’ll have a pretty accurate range of what your app costs to build locally.
But wait, you might (should!) be thinking:
“What if they say yes just to get the job even if they suck?”
A valid concern.
That’s why we said qualified agencies–and the qualifying comes from you!
Instead of spamming emails to 50 app agencies you don’t know, take the time to go through their reviews and portfolios to verify they have solid client feedback and experience.
Bonus points if they’ve built similar mobile apps to what you have in mind.
This will take significantly more time, but it’s time well spent.
And like we said, once you have five quotes, you’ll know how much your app costs to build locally.
If you can’t afford it, time to cast a wider net and go offshore.
How to Hire Offshore App Developers
The one real difference between hiring an offshore or local app developer is the level of risk.
With offshore developers, you have zero legal recourse if they breach a contract.
And so, working with offshore talent means accepting you might lose your money without so much as a home screen to show for it, even if you sign the most comprehensive app development NDA in the world.
By truly appreciating this worse-case scenario, you will do everything you can to prevent it.
This means you make damn sure the developers have:
- The experience and expertise to complete your app.
- A process that allows for setting priorities, measuring progress, and pivoting if needed
- Tools and channels for communication and sharing updates
No compromises. The developers must have all three to even be considered.
But what if you don’t trust yourself to verify that a developer is the real deal?
Then you should outsource the verification to a third party, of which you have two choices.
Third Party Developer Recruitment Agencies
Developer recruitment agencies specialize in sourcing, evaluating, and managing offshore software developers and matching them with ideal clients.
Reputable ones will handle all the heavy lifting, including:
- Documenting your app requirements
- Understanding your preferred work style
- Verifying the hell out of developers
- Finding you the best team possible
They have a reputation to protect, so it is very much in their best interest that things go smoothly!
Of course, they don’t come cheap!
If budget isn’t a constraint and you value peace of mind, this is often the safest route when hiring offshore.
Technically Proficient Friends and Family Members
If you have a friend or relative who knows software development, ask them to help by sitting in on interviews, reviewing code samples, and at the very least, asking key questions to vet developers.
The upside is you get free technical advice from someone whom you trust.
However, if our family members and friends asked us for this type of help, we’d probably decline.
Mixing personal and professional parts of life can get tricky.
Your loved ones might also hesitate in case things go wrong and it ends in fisticuffs at Christmas.
Where to Hire Offshore Mobile App Developers from
We believe businesses looking to hire overseas developers lie somewhere between two extremes:
- Lowest cost, never mind the quality
- Highest quality, never mind the cost
In reality, it’s quite rare for a business to truly be on one end or the other.
Hire the cheapest developers without caring about quality and you’ll be lucky to get an app at all
Conversely, refusing to hire anyone but the very best is almost always overkill and a good way to run out of money before the project gets completed.
Everyone is somewhere in the middle, and here are our suggestions.
To Prioritize Cost Savings
Based on our recent dive into software developer hourly rates in over 70 countries, here are the ten cheapest locations to hire developers in the world:
| Country | Hourly Rate (USD) |
|---|---|
| Mongolia | 9.65 |
| Ghana | 19.67 |
| Moldova | 20.25 |
| Myanmar | 22.60 |
| Laos | 23.75 |
| Tajikistan | 25.00 |
| Tunisia | 25.50 |
| Bangladesh | 26.83 |
| Nepal | 28.00 |
| Morocco | 29.33 |
If you prefer hiring European developers, here are the ten cheapest spots in the across the entire continent.
| Country | Hourly Rate (USD) |
|---|---|
| Moldova | 20.25 |
| Spain | 34.00 |
| Italy | 35.00 |
| Lithuania | 33.83 |
| Portugal | 30.95 |
| Albania | 37.00 |
| North Macedonia | 37.00 |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | 37.00 |
| Kazakhstan | 37.00 |
| Azerbaijan | 37.00 |
To Prioritize Quality
To produce a high quality software product, you need:
- Skilled developers
- Clear scope and communication
- Effective project management
Where in the world can one reliably and easily find skilled mobile app developers?
Frankly, we wouldn’t know how to begin measuring this.
So, we took our advice and outsourced the heavy lifting!
We read in depth look at global developer quality by a remote IT recruitment agency and here’s an abridged version of their list of countries where finding skilled developers isn’t an issue.
| Country | Rate (USD/hour) |
| United States | 87.88 |
| China | 37.25 |
| India | 29.37 |
| United Kingdom | 96.75 |
| Germany | 79.56 |
| Russia | 38.50 |
| Switzerland | 90.00 |
| Japan | 83.25 |
| Taiwan | 39.30 |
| Italy | 35.00 |
| Poland | 50.28 |
| Ukraine | 48.70 |
| Philippines | 31.08 |
| Romania | 48.11 |
| Brazil | 46.71 |
| Czech Republic | 49.03 |
| Canada | 94.67 |
| Hungary | 51.55 |
| South Korea | 36.55 |
| Denmark | 62.75 |
| Serbia | 39.83 |
| Mexico | Not listed |
| Ireland | 72.25 |
However, there’s more to successful offshore app development than hiring skilled developers.
Like we said, you also need to ensure clear workflows and project management.
This means, out of all the countries listed above, we’d look for ones with:
- A time zone difference with at least one hour overlap of normal working hours.
- A first or second language that you share.
- The cheapest option that still gives points number one and two.
That overlapping hour makes it easy to set a time for catch-ups and sprints.
Meanwhile, a common tongue means you and your developers can speak without a Google Translate tab open.
And with that, time for our shameless sales pitch.
Make Upstack Studio Your Offshore Mobile App Developers
We’re a small, dedicated team that’s spent the past six years helping businesses build custom software solutions.
Many of our clients are overseas, and working across time zones is second nature to us, and All it takes is a few well-chosen digital tools, and our own version of Agile methodology.
If you value developers who will push back and manage themselves while you focus on business, let’s speak.
Regardless, happy offshoring!
If you’re looking to build a mobile application, check out our portfolio of past projects and contact us if you like what you see. Also, consider joining our mailing list for a one-stop resource on everything from micro-SaaS validation all the way to execution and promotion. Get a nifty list of questions to ask app developers when you sign up!
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